Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Verification And Quantification Of Surface Electromyographic (Emg) Activity Of The Masseter Muscle, Kelsey Bowles

Honors Theses

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Purpose: The goal of the present study is to develop and evaluate an automated technique for measuring biting and chewing related surface electromyographic (EMG) activity of the masseter muscle.

Methods: Data from 28 neurologically healthy participants between the ages of 18-40 were selected for this study. The procedure for collecting the bite/chew data consisted of the participant biting down and chewing three small breath mints while an EMG sensor recorded the masseter muscle activity. A five-step Matlab-based algorithm was created to accurately identify onsets and offsets of each bite and chew event.

Results: Compared to manual measurements using standard …

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Exploring Oculomotor Trends In Collegiate Athletes, Brett Whorley, Julie A. Honaker

UCARE: Research Products

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Collaborative efforts to improve athlete safety without significantly hindering the rules of the games aim to develop a novel system to better measure and diagnose concussions. Provided that common signs of concussions include blurred vision, distant gaze, and dizziness, the Dizziness and Balance Disorders Lab at UNL believes that the simple oculomotor exam studied in this project may be applied to this procedure. Within the broader goal to better understand the causes, signs, symptoms, and prognosis of concussions, researchers desired to further investigate the results of this oculomotor test. The aim was to identify and interpret correlations between collegiate athlete …

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A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Very Early Rehabilitation In Speech After Stroke, Erin Godecke, Elizabeth Armstrong, Tapan Rai, Sandy Middleton, Natalie Ciccone, Anne Whitworth, Miranda Rose, Audrey Holland, Fiona Ellery, Graeme Hankey, Dominique Cadilhac, Julie Bernhardt

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

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Rationale:

The efficacy of rehabilitation therapy for aphasia caused by stroke is uncertain.

Aims and hypothesis:

The Very Early Rehabilitation of Speech (VERSE) trial aims to determine if intensive prescribed aphasia therapy (VERSE) is more effective and cost saving than non-prescribed, intensive (usual care-plus) and non-intensive usual care (UC) therapy when started within 15 days of stroke onset and continued daily over four weeks. We hypothesize that aphasia therapy when started very early after stroke and delivered daily could enhance recovery of communication compared with UC.

Sample size estimates:

A total of 246 participants (82 per arm) will provide 80% …

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The Skinny On Eating Attitudes, Body Image, And The Thin-Ideal In College Women, Lyndsay N. Greene

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

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There is evidence of a link between body image and disordered eating among females, and some research that suggests exposure to the media exacerbates both body dissatisfaction and eating pathology. Despite these claims, little research has been done on the effects that exposure to photo-shopped images specifically has on body dissatisfaction and eating pathology. The present study sought to further understand the relationship between cognitive distortions of body image and eating attitudes and to examine the effects that exposure to the thin-ideal found in the media has on body dissatisfaction among college aged women. Eighty female college students answered questions …

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Different Neural Mechanisms For Causal Processing In Language And Perception: An Fmri Study, Brett B. Bankson, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Information that is used to establish and evaluate causal relationships between objects and events can be gleaned from many sources, especially those that rely on language and perception. For example, sentences with a verb structure using change of state verbs such as “to break” or “to freeze” imply sequential events that express understood causal relationships. At this time, little research has examined the neural correlates of causal verb processing or has compared them to the more well researched brain activity involved in perceptual causal processing. This study investigated the extent to which the evaluation of causal verbs and causal image …

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Children With Sli Exhibit Delays Resolving Ambiguous Reference, Julie M. Estis, Brenda L. Beverly

University Faculty and Staff Publications

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Fast mapping weaknesses in children with specific language impairment (SLI) may be explained by differences in disambiguation, mapping an unknown word to an unnamed object. The impact of language ability and linguistic stimulus on disambiguation was investigated. Sixteen children with SLI (8 preschool, 8 school-age) and sixteen typically developing age-matched children selected referents given familiar and unfamiliar object pairs in three ambiguous conditions: phonologically distinct word (PD), phonologically similar word (PS), no word (NW). Preschoolers with SLI did not disambiguate, unlike typically developing age-matched participants, who consistently selected unfamiliar objects given PD. School-age children with SLI disambiguated given PD. Delays …

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High Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Als Mogelijke Hulp Bij Afasie-Herstel, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Samenvatting

Nieuwe kennis over het plastische vermogen van het volwassen brein, ook na hersenschade, heeft geleid tot hernieuwde interesse in technieken om deze plasticiteit fysiek te sturen. Een van die technieken is transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), waarmee de exciteerbaarheid van hersencellen beïnvloed wordt door een zwakke gelijkstroom door de hersenschors te leiden. Als met deze methode hersenplasticiteit bevorderd en gestuurd kan worden, is het wellicht mogelijk om de uitkomsten van afasietherapie te verbeteren, door het aanpakken van de fysieke bron van de stoornis. Dit artikel behandelt kort de geschiedenis en de werking van tDCS, alvorens een overzicht te geven …

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High-Definition Tdcs Of Noun And Verb Retrieval In Naming And Lexical Decision, Svetlana Malyutina, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) is a novel brain stimulation method that has high potential for use in language therapy for speakers with aphasia, due to its safety and focality. This study aimed to obtain foundational data on using HD-tDCS to modulate language processing in healthy speakers. Participants received stimulation either of left Broca’s area or of angular gyrus (20 minutes of anodal, cathodal and sham stimulation on separate days), followed by naming and lexical decision tasks with single-word verb and noun stimuli. We found that cathodal stimulation over both Broca’s area and left angular gyrus increased naming speed …

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Mapping The Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Sensorimotor Integration During The Perception And Performance Of Wallowing, Megan E. Cuellar

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

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Similar to other complex sequences of muscle activity, swallowing relies heavily upon ‘sensorimotor integration.’ It is well known that the premotor cortex and primary sensorimotor cortices provide critical sensorimotor contributions that help control the strength and timing of swallowing muscle effectors. However, the temporal dynamics of sensorimotor integration remains unclear, even when performed normally without neurological compromise. Recent advances in EEG analysis blind source separation techniques via independent component analysis offer a novel and exciting opportunity to measure cortical sensorimotor activity in realtime during swallowing, concurrently with muscle activity during swallow initiation. In the current study, mu components were identified, …

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Pedigree Structure And Kinship Measurements Of A Mid-Michigan Community: A New North American Population Isolate Identified, Joseph D. Bonner, Rachel Fisher, James Klein, Qing Lu, Ellen Wilch, Karen H. Friderici, Jill L. Elfenbein, Debra L. Schutte, Brian C. Schutte

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

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Previous studies identified a cluster of individuals with an autosomal recessive form of deafness that resides in a small region of mid-Michigan. We hypothesized that affected members from this community descend from a defined founder population. Using public records and personal interviews, we constructed a genealogical database that includes the affected individuals and their extended families as descendants of 461 settlers who emigrated from the Eifel region of Germany between 1836 and 1875. The genealogical database represents a 13-generation pedigree that includes 27,747 descendants of these settlers. Among these descendants, 13,784 are presumed living. Many of the extant descendants reside …

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Genetics Of Peripheral Vestibular Dysfunction: Lessons From Mutant Mouse Strains, Sherri M. Jones, Timothy A. Jones

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

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Background

A considerable amount of research has been published about genetic hearing impairment. Fifty to sixty percent of hearing loss is thought to have a genetic cause. Genes may also play a significant role in acquired hearing loss due to aging, noise exposure, or ototoxic medications. Between 1995 and 2012, over 100 causative genes have been identified for syndromic and nonsyndromic forms of hereditary hearing loss (see Hereditary Hearing Loss Homepage http://hereditaryhearingloss.org). Mouse models have been extremely valuable in facilitating the discovery of hearing loss genes, and in understanding inner ear pathology due to genetic mutations or elucidating fundamental mechanisms …

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Training Verb Argument Structure Production In Agrammatic Aphasia: Behavioral And Neural Recovery Patterns, Cynthia K. Thompson, Ellyn A. Riley, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Aya Meltzer-Asscher, Sladjana Lukic

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Introduction

Neuroimaging and lesion studies indicate a left hemisphere network for verb and verb argument structure processing, involving both frontal and temporoparietal brain regions. Although their verb comprehension is generally unimpaired, it is well known that individuals with agrammatic aphasia often present with verb production deficits, characterized by an argument structure complexity hierarchy, indicating faulty access to argument structure representations for production and integration into syntactic contexts. Recovery of verb processing in agrammatism, however, has received little attention and no studies have examined the neural mechanisms associated with improved verb and argument structure processing. In the present study we trained …

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The Neural Substrates Of Complex Argument Structure Representations: Processing “Alternating Transitivity” Verbs, Aya Meltzer-Asscher, Julia Schuchard, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Cynthia K. Thompson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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This study examines the neural correlates of processing verbal entries with multiple argument structures using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We compared brain activation in response to “alternating transitivity” verbs, corresponding to two different verbal alternates—one transitive and one intransitive—and simple verbs, with only one, intransitive, thematic grid. Fourteen young healthy participants performed a lexical decision task with the two verb types. Results showed significantly greater activation in the angular and supramarginal gyri (Brodmann areas (BAs) 39 and 40) extending to the posterior superior and middle temporal gyri bilaterally, for alternating compared to simple verbs. Additional activation was detected in …

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Exploring Picture Word Priming Effects In Healthy Aging Adults Using Event Related Potentials, Sasha C. Christopher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanics with which older adults activate and access different subdomains of their mental lexicons during word retrieval for picture naming.

Method: Data were analyzed for 12 aging, native English speakers who performed a picture-word priming task. The auditory probe words were presented in the following conditions in relation to the picture stimuli: Identically related, strongly semantically related, weakly semantically related, strongly phonologically related, weakly phonologically related, semantically related to the strong phonological relative of the target picture label, or phonologically-related to the strong semantic relative of the target picture …

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Overt Cleft Palate Phenotype And Tbx1 Genotype Correlations In Velo-Cardio-Facial/Digeorge/22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome Patients, Sean Herman, Tingwei Guo, Donna M. Mcdonald Mcginn, Anna Blonska, Alan L. Shanske, Anne S. Bassett, Eva Chow, Mark Bowser, Molly Sheridan, Frits Beemer, Koen Devriendt, Ann Swillen, Jeroen Breckpot, Maria Christina Digilio, Bruno Marino, Bruno Dallapiccola, Courtney Carpenter, Xin Zheng, Jacob Johnson, Jonathan Chung, Anne Marie Higgins, Nicole Philip, Tony J. Simon, Karlene Coleman, Damian Heine Suñer, Jordi Rosell, Wendy R. Kates, Marcella Devoto, Elaine Zackai, Tao Wang, Robert J. Shprintzen, Beverly Emanuel, Bernice Morrow, International Chromosome 22q11.2 Consortium

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

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Velo-cardio-facial syndrome/DiGeorge syndrome, also known as 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is the most common microdeletion syndrome, with an estimated incidence of 1/2,000 – 1/4,000 live births. Approximately 9–11% of patients with this disorder have an overt cleft palate (CP), but the genetic factors responsible for CP in the 22q11DS subset are unknown. The TBX1 gene, a member of the T-box transcription factor gene family, lies within the 22q11.2 region that is hemizygous in patients with 22q11DS. Inactivation of one allele of Tbx1 in the mouse does not result in CP, but inactivation of both alleles does. Based on these data, …

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Network Modulation During Complex Syntactic Processing, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Dorothee Saur, Wolfgang Mader, Björn Schelter, Sladjana Lukic, Eisha Wali, Jens Timmer, Cynthia K. Thompson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Complex sentence processing is supported by a left-lateralized neural network including inferior frontal cortex and posterior superior temporal cortex. This study investigates the pattern of connectivity and information flow within this network. We used fMRI BOLD data derived from 12 healthy participants reported in an earlier study (Thompson, C. K., Den Ouden, D. B., Bonakdarpour, B., Garibaldi, K., & Parrish, T. B. (2010b). Neural plasticity and treatment-induced recovery of sentence processing in agrammatism. Neuropsychologia, 48(11), 3211–3227) to identify activation peaks associated with object-cleft over syntactically less complex subject-cleft processing. Directed Partial Correlation Analysis was conducted on time series …

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Neural Plasticity And Treatment-Induced Recovery Of Sentence Processing In Agrammatism, Cynthia K. Thompson, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Borna Bonakdarpour, Kyla Garibaldi, Todd B. Parrish

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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This study examined patterns of neural activation associated with treatment-induced improvement of complex sentence production (and comprehension) in six individuals with stroke-induced agrammatic aphasia, taking into account possible alterations in blood flow often associated with stroke, including delayed time-to-peak of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) and hypoperfused tissue. Aphasic participants performed an auditory verification fMRI task, processing object cleft, subject cleft, and simple active sentences, prior to and following a course of Treatment of Underlying Forms (TUF; Thompson et al., 2003), a linguistically based approach for treating aphasic sentence deficits, which targeted object relative clause constructions. The patients also were …

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Structural Characterization Of The C-Terminus Of The Cochlear Motor Protein Prestin: Intrinsic Disorder Linked To Voltage Sensor Function, Michael S. Podgorski

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

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The sensitivity of mammalian hearing relies upon the ability to amplify sound. Outer hair cells (OHCs) in the cochlea have motile properties that support this function. The motor protein called prestin resides in the lateral wall of the OHCs. Prestin undergoes voltage-dependent conformational changes, which correlates to the movement of charge through the membrane or non-linear capacitance (NLC). This property underlies OHC electromotility. A mechanistic understanding of prestin’s function remains unknown. Previous research has tied prestin’s C-terminus (residues 499-799) to the voltage-dependent events that occur in the membrane. The folding and biochemical properties of prestin’s C-terminus were characterized. This information …

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Neuroimaging And Recovery Of Language In Aphasia, Cynthia K. Thompson, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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The use of functional neuroimaging techniques has advanced what is known about the neural mechanisms used to support language processing in aphasia resulting from brain damage. This paper highlights recent findings derived from neuroimaging studies focused on neuroplasticity of language networks, the role of the left and right hemispheres in this process, and studies examining how treatment affects the neurobiology of recovery. We point out variability across studies as well as factors related to this variability, and we emphasize challenges that remain for research.

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Argument Structure Effects In Action Verb Naming In Static And Dynamic Conditions, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Steve Fix, Todd B. Parrish, Cynthia K. Thompson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Argument structure, as in the participant roles entailed within the lexical representation of verbs, affects verb processing. Recent neuroimaging studies show that when verbs are heard or read, the posterior temporoparietal region shows increased activation for verbs with greater versus lesser argument structure complexity, usually bilaterally. In addition, patients with agrammatic aphasia show verb production deficits, graded based on argument structure complexity. In the present study, we used fMRI to examine the neural correlates of verb production in overt action naming conditions. In addition, we tested the differential effects of naming when verbs were presented dynamically in video segments versus …

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Autistic Spectrum Disorders In Velo-Cardio Facial Syndrome (22q11.2 Deletion), Kevin M. Antshel, Alka Aneja, Leslie A. Strunge, Jena Peebles, Wanda Fremont, Kimberly Stallone, Nuria Abdulsabur, Anne Marie Higgins, Robert J. Shprintzen, Wendy R. Kates

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

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The extent to which the phenotype of children comorbid for velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) differs from that of VCFS-only has not been studied. The sample consisted of 41 children (20 females) with VCFS, ranging in age from 6.5 years to 15.8 years. Eight children with VCFS met formal DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for autism based upon the ADI-R. These eight plus an additional nine participants met diagnostic criteria for an autistic spectrum disorder (VCFS + ASD). Ninety-four percent of the children with VCFS + ASD had a co-occurring psychiatric disorder while 60% of children with VCFS had …

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The Neural Correlates Of Non-Spatial Working Memory In Velocardiofacial Syndrome (22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome), Wendy R. Kates, Beth R. Krauss, Nuria Abdulsabur, Dierdre Colgan, Kevin M. Antshel, Anne Marie Higgins, Robert J. Shprintzen

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

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Velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS), also known as 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, is a neurogenetic disorder that is associated with both learning disabilities and a consistent neuropsychological phenotype, including deficits in executive function, visuospatial perception, and working memory. Anatomic imaging studies have identified significant volumetric reductions in the parietal lobe of individuals with VCFS, but several studies have reported that the frontal lobe is relatively preserved. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of non-spatial working memory in 17 youths with VCFS, 10 of their unaffected siblings, and 10 community controls (with the same proportion of learning disabilities as …

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Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome, Robert J. Shprintzen, Anne Marie Higgins, Kevin M. Antshel, Wanda Fremont, Nancy Roizen, Wendy R. Kates

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

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Purpose of review: Velo-cardio-facial syndrome has emerged from obscurity to become one of the most researched disorders this past decade. It is one of the most common genetic syndromes in humans, the most common contiguous gene syndrome in humans, the most common syndrome of cleft palate, and the most common syndrome of conotruncal heart malformations. Velo-cardio-facial syndrome has an expansive phenotype, a factor reflected in the wide range of studies that cover both clinical features and molecular genetics. In this review, we cover multiple areas of research during the past year, including psychiatric disorders, neuroimaging, and the delineation of clinical …

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Hearing Loss And Retarded Cochlear Development In Mice Lacking Type 2 Iodothyronine Deiodinase, Lily Ng, Richard J. Goodyear, Chad A. Woods, Mark J. Schneider

Dartmouth Scholarship

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The later stages of cochlear differentiation and the developmental onset of hearing require thyroid hormone. Although thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) are a prerequisite for this process, it is likely that other factors modify TR activity during cochlear development. The mouse cochlea expresses type 2 deiodinase (D2), an enzyme that converts thyroxine, the main form of thyroid hormone in the circulation, into 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) the major ligand for TRs. Here, we show that D2-deficient mice have circulating thyroid hormone levels that would normally be adequate to allow hearing to develop but they exhibit an auditory phenotype similar to that caused by …

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